The recently released IPS900 and IPS800 are two new power classes from Volvo Penta that include larger drive units and engines extending the IPS pod-drive range to now include yachts up to 100 feet.

Volvo Penta said the new packages offer never-before-seen features for the environment, manoeuvring, comfort and performance on big boats to that length.

Since 2005, Volvo Penta said its IPS pod-drive system has helped the company successfully take an increasingly greater share of the inboard market, and as a result of the systems’ flexibility with multiple installations, IPS is currently offered on an increasing variety of boat types, now from 40 feet up to 100 feet.

To date, Volvo Penta said its IPS engines have been its 4-litre and 6-litre diesels with a maximum of 435hp.

Larger engines with greater power and more than twice as much torque place enormous demands on drive units, therefore Volvo Penta said it has developed a larger and considerably more powerful IPS drive unit and a propeller series for the IPS800 and IPS900, with all the advantages and characteristics that made the original IPS system so successful.

Volvo Penta said the IPS underwater body and propellers were developed with the help of highly advanced computer models, along with extensive trials in the cavitations tunnel and tests on the boat. The result, it said, is an integrated, highly-efficient propulsion system.

"Boat owners will have significantly lower fuel consumption and exhaust emissions and the industry’s best features for performance, comfort and manoeuvring ability with the renowned joystick function," said Volvo Penta. "As with earlier drive units, the propeller series is systematic, which means that the boat manufacturer chooses the propeller according to the IPS model and top speed of the boat."

The power plant selected for the newly released power classes is Volvo Penta’s 11-litre inline six-cylinder D11 engine providing600hp(IPS800) and 700hp (IPS900). The manufacturer said this motor has a twin-entry turbo that enables pulse charging, a technique that coupled with a mechanical compressor provides powerful torque from low RPM. Combined, the larger IPS drive and twin forward-facing counter-rotating propellers provide highly rapid acceleration and immediate response to the driver’s commands, added the company.

Volvo Penta said increased efficiency leads to superior performance in the IPS900 and IPS800, combined with lower fuel consumption and in particular lower total emissions. The comfort of less noise and vibrations is also tangibly better on boats that have IPS compared with straight shaft boats, claimed the company.

The IPS system is generally available as a dual setup, but in order to offer the system on larger boats, Volvo Penta said IPS is available as a triple or quad installation. (See the next issue of Trade-a-Boat — on sale June 29 — for David Lockwood’s test of the New Zealand-built Salthouse 65Q featuring quadruple Volvo Penta IPS600s).

Multiplicity of the IPS system, according to Volvo Penta, allowsit to cover boats from 40 feet up to 100 feet, and that a quad installation of Volvo Penta IPS900s will generate the equivalent of 3600 horsepower.

"Fuel consumption and range improve by about 30 per cent, compared with boats with a traditional shaft installation. The boat simultaneously becomes quieter and cleaner, with significantly superior performance," said Volvo Penta adding, "There is no difference for the driver whether the boat is powered by two, three or four IPS systems, acceleration and shifting occurs in the same manner, and no further adjustment is necessary."

With the IPS units being compact, Volvo Penta said this enables entirely new and bold design solutions for the boats, claiming that space onboard becomes substantially larger while the boat manufacturer’s installation times are simultaneously reduced by 50 per cent, and even more in certain cases.